Broadcast Newbie Questions

Very happy that I got my second real gig today. It is a 30-second TV spot for a local auto dealership. Having never produced anything for broadcast I'm hoping the experienced folks here could help me with FCPX and how it relates to broadcast. My main questions are the following:

1. Screen Area- Do I need to stay within the smaller area of the Title Safe Zones?
2. Colors: I recall reading often about "broadcast safe colors" What is that? And how does it relate to the FCPX RGB parade I'm fond of using?
3. Frame rate- Do I need to shoot at a specific frame rate? I'm in the US region. I've never understood the difference between 24p and 23.9-something and 30p vs 29.9-something.
4. What format should I be delivering to the client so he can pass on to the TV station?

Any additional broadcast advice for this newb is most welcome. Thanks in advance!

1- Action the audience needs to see stays in the Action safe zone. Text the audience needs to read stays in the Title safe zone. Very important. And these guides are good for non-broadcast also, as it helps you produce more visually appealing titles.

2- Use the Waveform scope. Nothing above about 585-90% in the highlights, and shadows should not be overly crushes at the 0% limit. Although you can over crush shadows for a specific look or style. But never let the highlights go above 90%, if they hit 100% or over you've blown out the highlights and it looks horrible. Using a parade scope helps with more advanced color balancing, but not for color safe limits. The Vector scope will show you color safe limits.

3- Shoot and deliver 59.94. Drop-Frame timecode refers to broadcast interlaced footage. It is shown in fields, not frames. 59.94 means the number of fiedls. 60p means the number of frames. Progressive shows a whole frame at a time. Interlaced shows fields. One field, of the two that make up a full frame, is all of the odd numbered scan lines that make up the TV image on a screen. The other field is the even numbered scan lines. Interlace flashes one field, then the next field. Progressive just flashes a whole frame at at time.

4- Check with the specific TV station for that. Some will accept a Quicktime ProRes or NTSC-DV file. Some will require a Beta tape. All depends. And ask the station if they need a header or not. If they do, they'll give you the specs for building one.

For what it's worth, here is a link to the SpotCentral spec sheet, it's one of the biggest online delivery services for local cable spots.

spotcentral.dgit.com/docs/HDMSD_OneSheet.pdf

Congrats on your second gig!

Thank you both for this helpful information. Now about the frame rate...

When creating a new project in FCPX (10.1), the 1080i resolution can only be paired with 25i or 29.97i. This would be in line with the sheet Darren linked, but not in line with BenB's 59.94i requirement. If I use 1080p instead of 1080i, then I see a 59.94p option, but I'm not sure this is what Ben is suggesting since it is progressive.

Also, my shooting gear consists of:

1. A Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera that shoots 1080p and does 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, or 30 fps.
2. A GoPro Hero 3 Black that also has only progressive modes and in 1080p I can choose from 60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24 fps.

Neither of the two cameras has an interlaced option. This worried me a lot after reading you post BenB, but then I know GoPro footage is shown on TV all the time so there has to be a way.

Can please I get recommendations based on the FCPX New Project options and my two cameras. Your help is much appreciated. I will get the TV station info from the client today so on Friday I will contact the TV station to ask about their file formatting.

***crosses fingers***
***please no tape!***
***please no tape!***

If you only got "P" modes it's fine.

So for standard broadcast in the US select 29.97 with the Blackmagic
With the GoPro I'm not sure as I don't have mine available at the moment. But as far as I remember you can switch the frame rates to NTSC as well. NTSC modes should record also at 23.976, 29.97, 59.94. But have a look at the manual.

-Andreas

Thanks. I’m really anxious to get more answers to my previous questions, but here is some other stuff I’ve been thinking about that maybe I can get input from the fcp.co community:

I haven’t yet researched broadcast monitors, but I’m editing on a rMBP that has thunderbolt and HDMI outputs. I hope I can use a broadcast monitor with either of those two connections. Also, is there a single monitor product that can serve these three functions:

1. Broadcast monitor
2. Monitor that can be calibrated for color correction work for non-broadcast projects.
3. Field monitor so I can get a better look at what I’m shooting during production?

I have two iPads at home and it drives me insane that I have not found any good use of those nice LCD screens for anything related to my video projects. Any monitoring recommendations?

You want to shoot 23.98 or 29.97 on the Blackmagic & GoPro.

It is a matter of aesthetics and look. They look different. Most shoot 23.98. It is done all day long long, it is the historical film frame rate.

This used to be a problem in FCP7 going from 23.98 to 29.97 interlaced, as 7 did not have the facility to add pulldown correctly.

In FCPX this is no longer a problem. Shoot 23.98, edit 23.98, and when you export 29.97 interlaced (aka, 59.94 interlaced), X will add the correct 2:3 pulldown cadence.

Source: I have been shooting and editing 23.98 for DVD and national broadcast since 2003.

I agree, you should NOT shoot 59.94 unless you are going for a specific look. I do a lot of spots, and they are almost always at 23.976fps. In FCP7 days, we would have a 23.976 master and actually an output card like an Aja could add correct pulldown when going to tape. I think it was only incorrect when you tried to add 23.976 footage into a 29.97 timeline. For digital, we would add pulldown elsewhere (compressor can do it) for a 1080i 59.94 delivery.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in FCPX, in order to output at a different framerate like adding pulldown to go to 59.94i, you would use a Compressor preset as a destination.

haysoos123 wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in FCPX, in order to output at a different framerate like adding pulldown to go to 59.94i, you would use a Compressor preset as a destination.

I've tested it. FCPX can do it correctly now without using Compressor or After Effects, to get it correct to go to a file.

[edit: You're right. It has to be Compressor now to change frame rate to anything different than the timeline format. Circa FCPX 10.0.1, I tested this and at the time, there was a way to get a correct 29.97 2:3 pulldown file from a 23.98 timeline without going to Compressor. I was amazed that they finally had made FCP smart enough to do it right. But now some file export options have changed since the early days of FCPX, and you now have to go thru Compressor like you say]

If the output was tape, yeah, an AJA or BM card would do it correctly too. That was the easiest route to go circa 2006-2010.

Actually I find the new system pretty good, since you can add any Compressor preset as a destination in the FCPX settings, so in effect you don't have to go to the Compressor program, you can output directly from FCPX. Also, the ability to export Bundles is great, since in real world usage you are often outputting multiple formats.

Re: outputting 23.976 to 29.97i (59.94i) from a timeline, it may be possible to make your 23.976 project into a compound clip, and then stick that clip into a 29.97i timeline and export from there. I haven't tested this cause it's easier to use a compressor preset, but it sounds like that would work.

Direktor wrote:

haysoos123 wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in FCPX, in order to output at a different framerate like adding pulldown to go to 59.94i, you would use a Compressor preset as a destination.

I've tested it. FCPX can do it correctly now without using Compressor or After Effects, to get it correct to go to a file. ]

If the output was tape, yeah, an AJA or BM card would do it correctly too. That was the easiest route to go circa 2006-2010.

Does it start with an a frame on edit points?

Darren Roark wrote: Does it start with an a frame on edit points?

Whether a cut is on the A frame of a pulldown cadence isn't a function of whatever's adding the pulldown (if it's adding it correctly). You would have to manage that when cutting in 23.976fps. That said, I've never cared about this and I've never had a master rejected because of this. Technically, it may even be part of the spec when they hand you the guidelines, but most of the people who do the QC don't know or don't care about it. I'm guessing once HD hit, people cared about it even less because no one actually sees the interlacing. Features are not cut with this in mind, and they are converted and broadcast all the time. If someone has had a master rejected because of this, let me know, it's always possible!

haysoos123 wrote:

Darren Roark wrote: Does it start with an a frame on edit points?

Technically, it may even be part of the spec when they hand you the guidelines, but most of the people who do the QC don't know or don't care about it. I'm guessing once HD hit, people cared about it even less because no one actually sees the interlacing. Features are not cut with this in mind, and they are converted and broadcast all the time. If someone has had a master rejected because of this, let me know, it's always possible!

Delivering SD digi betas of features to distributors (For God only knows why at this point in time) I have had them kicked back for that.

An indie feature I post supe'd "FDR: American Badass" was sold to a subsidiary of Universal. Modern VideoFilm did the QC, and tape mastering (HDCAM SR and DigiBeta ). The HD 23.976 Prores 4:4:4 file was fine, but the 29.976 SD file (with added 3:2 pulldown) was kicked back for "incorrect cadence". They had to run it through a teranex (for more than what they cost now) to make the tape 'correct'.

I now own a teranex, it's the only way I can guarantee making a file that passes these archaic 'standards'. Personally I will do a jig the day that interlaced SD delivery goes the way of the Dodo.